Aaron Hernandez, former Patriots star, charged with murder

Jun. 27, 2013

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Written by

Kevin Manahan and Chris Strauss

USA Today Sports

In this image taken from video, police escort Aaron Hernandez from his home in handcuffs in Attleboro, Mass., on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Hernandez was taken from his home more than a week after a Boston semi-pro football player was found dead in an industrial park a mile from Hernandez's house. / Associated Press

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NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, MASS. — Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has been charged with murder in the death of 27-year-old semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, who was found shot execution-style about a half-mile from Hernandez’s home in the early evening of June 17.

Hernandez, who was released by the Patriots earlier Wednesday, appeared in a packed courtroom number one at Attleboro District Court around 2:30 p.m. ET, where he faced six criminal charges, the most significant being first degree murder.

The criminal complaint against Hernandez, 23, states that “On 6/17/13, [he] did assault and beat Odin Lloyd with intent to murder such person, and by such assault and beating, did kill and murder such person.”

Bristol County first assistant attorney William McCauley presented his initial findings to Judge Daniel J. O’Shea, saying that Hernandez “orchestrated the execution” of Lloyd. At no point did McCauley claim that it was Hernandez himself who pulled the trigger.

The charged atmosphere in the standing room only courtroom grew when McCauley began describing the alleged timeline of events in the early hours of June 17. McCauley described how Hernandez’s movements were pieced together with cell phone tower tracking, text messages and surveillance cameras.

Prosecutors allege that Hernandez picked up Lloyd around 2:30 a.m. on June 17th and that they drove through Boston before heading back to North Attleborough. McCauley claimed that Hernandez was unhappy that Lloyd had spoken with people that he didn’t like at Boston nightclub several nights earlier. The prosecutor alleges that several people heard multiple gun shots near an industrial park close to Hernandez’s home around 3:23 a.m. and says that home surveillance cameras captured Hernandez carrying a semiautomatic firearm as he and two other men returned to his home at 3:30 a.m.

Shortly after McCauley described this detail, Lloyd’s sobbing mother was escorted from the courtroom.

O’Shea ordered that Hernandez be held without bail despite Fee’s argument that Hernandez is not a flight risk due to his status as a homeowner in North Attleborough and the fact that he had never been criminally charged with a violent crime in the past.

Both Fee and McCauley agreed on a gag order restricting anyone involved in this case from releasing any comment or commenting on the case, however O’Shea was reluctant to issue that ruling to anyone other than attorneys.

Asked how Hernandez was doing after the arraignment, Fee told a group of reporters, “Aaron is fine.”